Thursday was the day we had scheduled to do Magic Kingdom because we were able to get a reservation for a character lunch with the Winnie the Pooh characters. We figured we do a few things in the morning, head to lunch at 1:00 and then take the shuttle back to the hotel to give Em a chance to take a nap for a few hours. Since the park was open until 11pm that night we were planning on going back after dinner to have some more fun and see the fireworks and light parade. Well not everything went as planned. We had a great time in the morning. The first thing Em saw was the castle. She was sooo excited! There was a small show right in front with the regular Disney characters along with the princesses. Em loved the dancing and singing. She was so zoned into every movement. Here she is on John’s shoulders getting a better look.
She also loved the Winnie the Pooh ride. (She liked it so much we had to ride it again when we returned that night.) Once she got home all she would tell everyone was how Tigger would keep jumping out. We walked through Mickey and Minnie’s house and got to get our pictures taken with them. The waiting in line was difficult for her but a trip to Disney just wouldn’t be complete without a pic with them. Now if only she would have been willing to be in the picture by herself, that would have been great but this was as good as we could get. The real kicker was her comment after we were done, “See, I told you that wasn’t so bad!” Sure Em….
She did want to meet the princesses and that was a little easier for her. I think it’s because they don’t wear a mask like the ot
her characters. She even talked to them a bit. Here’s some pics of us with Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty).
Well our trouble began when we went to check in for our lunch reservations. As we walked up to the restaurant I could see a crowd of people including several of the employees. I went to check in and they informed me that they were having technical difficulties and were not sure when they would be opening up. Apparently, they had been closed for the previous 2 hours and said it could be another hour before they started allowing people in. I asked what they were planning to do with those who had made reservations. She said we could go to one of the 2 other restaurants that she named and we would be taken care of. When I asked her if the Characters would be at those restaurants her reply was, no, they only come here. This made no sense to me. If they were trying to get the patrons to go to another restaurant why wouldn’t they send the characters along? So we waited a bit and it still hadn’t opened so we went somewhere else to eat. John said that he didn’t think Em would even notice. Yeah right! It wasn’t right away but the next day she did question when we were going to go eat with Pooh and Tigger.
So by the time we were done with our lunch it was 2:45 and the parade was going to begin at 3:00 so we decided to sit along Main Street and wait to see it before we headed back to the hotel. Well, 4-5 minutes before the parade began the clouds started rolling in. The parade began and Em was in awe watching all the characters and floats go by, then out of nowhere it started pouring! I had all I could do to get the umbrella out from under the stroller and put it up to protect Em in the stroller. We had ponchos in the diaper bag and a rain cover for the stroller but there just wasn’t anytime. I was completely soaked. It was crazy!! And there was Em just mesmerized by the parade not caring one bit that the rain was coming down so hard. If it wasn’t for a float getting stuck in the road and stopping the parade, we probably would have just sat there taking it all in till the end. All I could do was smile and laugh because it was at that moment that I realized the true “magic” that the Disney experience brought to us. Even with the terrible storm, Em was loving the experience as was I.
We ended up going back to the hotel in the rain. Completely soaked from top to bottom. All 3 of us passed out for a couple of hours. When we woke up the weather was still gloomy but John and I decided to just bear it and go back. We were so glad we did. Once we finally got back to the park the rain had cleared and we were able to enjoy the rest of our night. We were able to hit another 4 rides and didn’t have to wait too long. The fireworks were amazing and Em still talks about Tinkerbell flying through the air before they had started. Once those were done, we went to get a spot for the light parade which was equally cool. Here are some more pics from our day:
